


Strayed to the arms that were open

by TheQuiet



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, Oops plot apeared, Pining, Tenderness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:55:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22674445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheQuiet/pseuds/TheQuiet
Summary: The Doctor spends some time with Nikola Tesla. When the Master catches up to her, he's shocked to see her so blatantly flaunting the rules of time playing house with a human historical figure, and even more annoyed that this means he can't kill him. Especially since the Doctor seems to enjoy Tesla's company more than his own.
Relationships: The Doctor/The Master (Doctor Who), Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 110





	1. Chapter 1

The Doctor knew she was lonely. She’d been struggling to connect with her companions since running into the Master. Well… she’d been avoiding her companions, unable to deal with their curiosity – _beautiful, bright, admirable, and oh so human curiosity –_ when it was directed at her.

Talking to Tesla, however – _Nikola Tesla! And wasn’t that something!_ – had reminded her once again of why she loved travelling with humans, and for a brief moment she had felt the kind of connection with someone that this new body of hers had been trying to avoid. The same feeling as when Rose had said ‘ _there’s me’_ and Amy said ‘ _it only made him kind’_ and Clara said ‘ _be a doctor’_. A shared sense of understanding about some very fundamental piece of herself. The kind of feeling she always felt with the Master-

And she _really_ needed to stop that particular train of thought.

So she’d dropped her Fam back home in Sheffield – _“I’ll be back in a few days, gang!”_ – and gone back to 1903 to invite Tesla on-board the TARDIS.

It was easier this way. She needed the kind of human connection he could provide, and he would eventually need to return to history, this was a bit of respite for them both, and she could talk to him without fear of infecting her darkness upon him.

She knew she was pushing her companions – _her Fam_ – away, but she was so scared. For them, and for herself. Inviting Tesla on-board didn’t have the same risk, to him she was impossible: her knowledge made her unattainable, and he wouldn’t forget that she was old, and alien and infinitely more complex than a human could comprehend. 

They were on Caarsir-9 at the moment, a planet-sized space station designed specifically for entrepreneurship and innovation. The core of the station was filled with customisable workshops available for hire and purchase, and the entire surface was a market for traders to sell and exchange parts.

She was reconnecting the TARDIS’ recovery circuitry to the creation matrix she was rebuilding, trying to retrieve the rooms that had been lost during the debacle with House and the bubble universe while she was in her eleventh body.

They had been on the station for a week, and Tesla had spent the first half of it watching her, fascinated and inquisitive about everything she was doing. He’d finally picked up his own project, and the Doctor was impressed to see him creating what looked very similar to an early 21st century drone.

“Alright there, Tesla?” she called cheerfully as she walked out of the TARDIS with a handful of Gallifreyan micro-circuitry.

He looked up and smiled at her, “I will say it once again Doctor, I have never felt more joy in my life. This is all so incredible! Impossible, yes… but I do not know if I can give enough credit to my imagination to be able to dream something like this up.”

“Well, I’d never put a limit on Nikola Tesla’s imagination,” she said with an answering grin. “But I can promise this is not a dream! Because if it was one, I would have found the TARDIS parts I need in my workshop instead of the treadmill room.” She paused, and scrunched up her face, “I don’t know why I kept that room, actually. It just causes a lot of falling over! You know each section of the floor moves in a different direction, it’s really a bit usel—”.

She cut herself off with a sheepish expression, “I’m sorry,” she said. “Rambling again.”

“It’s quite alright,” Tesla replied. “I will never tire of hearing about your incredible machine.”

She gave a small but sincere smile in response, “She is incredible, yeah? But don’t go giving her too much of an ego, Nikola Tesla, she already thinks she knows best far too often.”

The TARDIS gave an agreeing hum in her mind, with a sharp reprimand at the end.

“Oh hush you,” she said, resting her hand against the left door. “I let you steer most of the time, don’t I?”

A patronising amused hum this time, and the Doctor pretended to huff in outrage, “I do so _let_ you! Who’s the pilot here?”

Amused hum again, and she stroked the door, “You’re far too cheeky for your old age, dear.” A final pat to the door and she walked back toward Tesla who had been watching her with a fascinated expression.

“When you talked to your ship, I did not know it could reply,” he said. “How is that possible?”

The Doctor pulled a chair over to sit across from him at his desk, and lightly traced her fingers over the upside-down diagrams of the drone laid out in front of her. She considered how to answer.

“My species,” she said, ignoring the twist in her stomach at the reminder of Gallifrey. “We’re telepathic. Touch telepaths to be specific. And TARDIS’ are sentient so I can connect with mine in the same way I can connect to any other sentient species in existence.”

“Fascinating,” Tesla replied, looking at her with awe. “So if I were to touch your hand you could walk among my thoughts as though they were your own?”

“Sort of,” she said. “There are lots of different levels of connection. I keep shields around my mind so if you touched my hand I wouldn’t actually feel anything other than your emotions. But, if I lower those shields and properly connect with your mind, then yes, I could ‘walk among your thoughts’ as you say. But I would be a guest, as though you had assembled a gallery of thoughts to show me: you would be totally in control”.

She paused, opening and closing her mouth as she thought of the deepest kind of connection, and the last person she had shared that with. Her hearts clenched and she looked down to push back the pricking in her eyes.

“But to see someone’s thoughts as your own,” she said softly, lifting and settling her gaze on the wall behind Tesla. “That’s the deepest possible connection, the most… intimate”.

Tesla’s expression has softened, clearly aware that the conversation had become heavier, but he looked at her with a completely innocent desire to understand which spurred her on.

“It’s a type of telepathy that’s only shared between lovers, and even then, sometimes it’s considered as too intimate,” she gave him a shaky smile. “You truly become one, and it’s… _everything_.”

She could tell he knew what she wasn’t saying – that she had clearly felt this kind of connection with someone who wasn’t around – but he restrained himself from asking anymore questions, and slowly reached out to rest his hand on top of hers. She could feel his gentle inquisitiveness, along with an overwhelming sense of understanding and solidarity that brought tears to her eyes.

“Thank you,” she said, and breathed out an amused huff. “Nikola Tesla, _thank you_.”

He smiled at her, pulling his hand away, “It is truly my pleasure, Doctor. After all you have shown me, to offer such small comfort is the least I can do.”

She gave a small nod back, and jumped up from her chair, shaking off the melancholy and clapping her hands together.

“Well!” she said excitedly. “Let’s have a look at what you’re working on. Is that a lithium-polymer core? Very impressive, you really are so brilliant, I—”

The Doctor was cut off as a loud boom echoed from the corridor outside the workshop, and she stumbled off-balance briefly before giving Tesla a panicked look and moving toward the door.

She pulled her sonic screwdriver out of her coat pocket, and held it in front of her as she reached to open the door, only to fall back as it was thrown open to reveal someone she had not expected to see.

“Hello, love” said the Master. “Did you miss me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When in doubt about a title, use Hozier lyrics.


	2. Chapter 2

When the Master had tracked the Doctor’s TARDIS to Caarsir-9, he’d almost been disappointed at how predictable she was. _Really Doctor_ , he thought, _must you always be either fixing humans or building things?_ But it did make it easy for him to steal a few pieces from the abundance of explosives vendors on the station’s surface, and begin blowing his way through to the core of the planet towards where she had parked her TARDIS.

He came to a stop as he felt an electric flicker in the back of his mind, the Doctor’s mental presence reaching out to him through the telepathic link that he knew she would not have noticed was still open from Paris. Pocketing his TARDIS tracking device, he allowed his mind to briefly open so he could track her more personally.

Taking a deep breath to stop himself from properly reaching back along the connection, – _and it was oh so tempting to let go and indulge in the brilliant intensity of her mind –_ he let the Doctor’s presence reach across his mental barriers and direct him to its source, following the flicker of electricity through the labyrinth of corridors inside the space station.

Even this small taste of the Doctor’s mind, its most basic outskirts that even a primitive telepathic race would be able to sense were overwhelming, reminded the Master why he and every other being that met her was so drawn to her presence. She was so powerful and bright, and her mind – _oh her mind_ – moved so fast and elegantly that instead of the static wave-like feeling of most species’ minds, hers was truly and utterly unique. Even the Time Lords, whose minds felt like constant fast splintering glass with their infinite directions at impossible to follow speeds could not compare to the brilliance of the Doctor’s.

Her burning electric presence was far too addictive, and he knew that every telepathic being in existence would yearn to possess and covet her mind.

He reached a hub that led to the corridor the Doctor’s mental presence was coming from. ‘RESTRICTED ACCESS: OUTLAWED MATERIALS’ the door blocking the corridor read, and he pulled the remaining explosives out of his pockets.

He selected a Temzerian thrust mine, which would provide a basic one-way explosion, and attached it to the door, gleefully setting a three second timer.

The resulting boom shook the entire station, and made him grin, a small giggle slipping out as he strolled through the charred entrance of the corridor until he reached the door he knew the Doctor was behind. He absentmindedly smoothed down his hair, and adjusted his vest before shoving the door open with far more force than required.

Ignoring the skip of his hearts as he laid eyes on her, – _this new beautiful, soft, and bright looking form, smaller than him for the first time he could remember since they were children_ – he settled his face with a coldly amused expression as she stumbled back.

“Hello, love.” He said, right hand twitching with pleasure as the endearment rolled off his tongue. “Did you miss me?”

He delighted in the multitude of expressions that flickered across the Doctor’s face as she took him in: _shock, relief, (something he couldn’t name), confusion, annoyance_ before finally settling on anger.

“What,” she said, voice steady. “Are you doing here?”

He leaned his head toward her as he stepped past, lowering his mouth to her ear. “My dear Doctor,” he exhaled, pleasure bubbling in his chest as she shivered at the feeling of his breath on her ear. “You left me to the Nazi’s and then trapped me in an empty realm. Did you think I would just let that go?”

She moved her arm to shove him away, and he grabbed her wrist in a crushing hold, relishing the knowledge that it would leave marks. _Beautiful bruises against her perfect skin to mark her new body as his._

“Careful Doctor,” he said sharply, seeing a man stand up and move toward him in his peripheral. “Don’t make me hurt this new pet of yours.”

He was expecting her to protest in the same way she usually protected her precious humans: _‘no Master, hurt me not them, Master. Please, they haven’t done anything, Master”._ But the look of panic that shot across her face seemed shocked rather than controlled, and he was surprised when she grabbed his arm back, as though she had forgotten he was taking charge of this particular encounter.

“Wait, you can’t!” she said, eyes wide and speech quick. “That’s Nikola Tesla, I took him from 1903, and there are too many fixed points he has to still be involved in.”

“What?” the Master asked harshly, looking up at the human to confirm his timelines, and dropping his gaze back to the Doctor as he saw she was telling the truth. “What in Omega’s name possessed you to kidnap a human in the middle of their fixed timeline?" he hissed. "You know how often they get killed around you!”

He almost regretted his words at the wounded look on her face, and the way she flinched back from his words. He growled and brushed her hand off his arm, turning away to avoid the clench of his hearts at her distress, and prowled toward the man.

Admittedly, Nikola Tesla impressed him, standing tall and impassive as the Master moved toward him, only giving away his fear with the audible rapid beat of his heart, shortness of breath, and subtle shaking in his left leg.

The Master hummed, and circled around the human. “I don’t know what you see in them, Doctor,” he said. “The human mind is no match for you. Aren’t you bored?”

“Don’t talk about them like that,” she snapped, and he grinned savagely back. “Humans are brilliant, and Tesla’s inventions shaped the future. Even you must be able to see how beautifully time swirls around him, the influence he has, the influence _just_ one human can have is—”

“I don’t care!” he yelled, cutting her off. “He is a _cockroach_ compared to what we are, he is a _waste_ of your attention, and he will die knowing he amounted to _nothing_!”

With a glare in his direction she turned to Tesla, “don’t listen to a word he says,” she implored, eyes wide and soft and the Master wanted to burn something. “You really do define the future; your name will be remembered across Earth for years and years and—”

“Doctor,” the man interrupted gently. “I am well aware that I am rather small and ignorant compared to you and your comprehension of the universe. This does not bother me; it would have been enough of an honour to meet you just once. The fact that you have spent this week with me, sharing your world is more than I could ever have dreamed from my life.”

The grateful look of joy the Doctor gave the man in response made the Master’s stomach turn, and he felt heat rising to the back of his neck as she ignored his presence to continue looking – _or was she…gazing? –_ at the human. He felt his jaw involuntarily clench and pushed aside his confusion at all the unintentional feelings that were rising within him.

“Doctor,” the Master said, her name falling out of his mouth for no reason other than to drawn her attention back to him.

He clenched his fist as she took an extra moment to withdraw her gaze from the human’s, and he almost startled when his body automatically relaxed at her undivided attention.

He began fumbling for words, “There’s something I shou—”

He stopped as a sharp pain shot through his head, clutching at his temples he saw the Doctor keel over as she clearly felt the same thing. _Stupid, stupid,_ he thought, _forgetting to properly re-establish his mental barriers after finding the Doctor._

He used brute force to push the pain from his mind, and shoved his shielding back up along with a blast of psychic anger, feeling the presence recede from his mind with a hint of fear. He allowed himself a small smirk, only for it to immediately drop as he noticed the Doctor now lying on the ground, Nikola Tesla leaning over her body and stroking her hair in an attempt to soothe her as she twitched in distress.

The same hot anger and, stomach turn was back, along with a sharp fear and ache in his hearts as he watched the Doctor whimper in pain.

He rushed over to her body, growling at Tesla to move as he sank down beside her and laid his fingers against her temples. Steadying himself with a deep breath, he brushed gently against her mental barriers and sharply inhaled in shock as he realised what was happening.

Tesla was looking at him thoughtfully, a dawning understanding unravelling behind his eyes that the Master was choosing to ignore, “Is she…” he said tentatively. “ _Will_ she be okay?”

The Master thought about dismissing him, but realising he might need the human’s help he chose to speak honestly.

“Something is attacking her psychically,” he said brusquely. “I felt it earlier because I was connected to the outskirts of her mind, it was…painful, and I was barely feeling any of it.” He stroked her face almost involuntarily. “She must be in agony,” he murmured.

He swept the Doctor up into his arms, and tilted his head at Tesla.

“Open the door to the TARDIS,” he said, ignoring the pained moans that tugged at his hearts as she burrowed her head into his chest. “I’ll need her help to fight whatever’s attacking the Doctor”.

Tesla nodded and briskly walked into the TARDIS, holding open the door as the Master brushed past him to lower the Doctor onto the floor next to the console.

The lights shifted from a worried blue to an angry red, and the TARDIS gave a shrill hum in his mind.

“Yes, I’m well aware she’s hurting,” he snarled at the centre console. “Why else would I ask for your help you sanctimonious bitch.”

The TARDIS flashed her lights at him sharply, but settled back to the gentle blue, resuming a worried hum.

“Alright then,” he muttered, giving one final glare at the console. “Here we go.”

He lowered his fingers to her temples, resisting smoothing down her clenched brow. Her eyelids fluttered as he pressed lightly against the psychic points, and he watched as she cracked open her eyes to try and focus on his face.

“It hurts,” she stuttered out. “Please… please it hurts”.

“I know, love,” he said softly. “I’m going to help you.”

He didn’t think she understood much of what he was saying or even who he was, but as he prepared to close his eyes she reached weakly to press her hand against his chest.

“I know you will,” she breathed out, barely audible. “My Koschei.”

He felt his breath catch at his old nickname, and tears prickled in his eyes as memories of their time on Gallifrey surfaced. He swallowed his reverence, briefly kissing her forehead as she succumbed once again to the pain of the mental attack.

Steeling himself he closed his eyes, “Contact.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, two chapters in one day! That was not planned, but I can't get these two out of my head.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay three chapters in one day will NOT be happening again, but enjoy!

The Doctor’s mind was burning. She could barely recall her name at present, but she remembered hearing the Master talking before she was attacked and knew that he would use his considerable talent and skill at psychic warfare to help her with whatever the hell was trying to rip her consciousness from her body.

She could feel the neural pathways within her mind being stretched and twisted as something attempted to steal her consciousness, it was as though her skin was being peeled off her body with a blunt knife and then the pieces braided while still attached to her nerve endings. She succumbed to the pain and for a moment forget anything else existed.

On the outside of her mind she felt her body being lifted; the jolt to her neck increased the sensation of her lower consciousness being stretched taught, and she let out a pained moan.

The arms holding her seemed to shift, and she pressed her head further into the warm surface that seemed to somewhat soothe the horrible sensations. She could feel a repetitive beat of four against her temple, and she tried to focus on the beat as a way to pull her consciousness back to its centre.

She felt herself fall away from the warm heartbeats, and succumbed back to the pain, losing track of everything around her until a gentle pressure on her temples brought her stretched neural pathways back to their proper positions, only leaving behind a throbbing ache as her consciousness tried to readjust.

She tried to open her eyes and talk to whoever was helping her, but all she could see was a dark silhouette hovering above her framed by blue light.

“It hurts,” she managed to push past her lips. “Please… please it hurts”.

The voice that replied was gentle, and she almost cried in relief when she made out the end of the sentence saying, “…help you.”

She forced her eyes open one more time and lifted her hand to the centre of the silhouette, warmth and respite filling her as she felt the double heartbeat that could only belong to one person.

“I know you will,” she breathed, eyes falling shut as she let the strength of her oldest friend’s presence encompass her, “My Koschei”.

The pain began to pull her apart again, and she reached for the last strand that appeared completely attached to the centre of her consciousness, following the echo up the strand until she could make out what it was saying: _contact contact contact_.

She directed all her focus to replying, “Contact.”

And everything fell still.

Embracing the empty swirling darkness of her mind, the Doctor sent the feeling of relief through the neurons she could access, gathering their frayed pieces and using as much positive emotion she could muster to pull them together and heal the damages.

“Be careful, Doctor,” a familiar voice said gently, and she shivered as it rolled throughout her mind. “You can’t put your mind back together the same way you meddle with your TARDIS”.

She manifested a copy of her current body and turned to face the Master who had done the same. She threaded amusement and fondness through her mind to soften her next words, replying, “don’t tell me what to do.”

He gave her an exasperated look and sent back his own surge of affection, before taking her hand and settling against her mind with seriousness.

“I had to block you from the rest of your mind,” the Master said haltingly, and she could sense that he was worried she would be upset about the fact. She squeezed his hand reassuringly, and projected a sense of trust to him that caused his eyes to widen and she felt a shiver of vulnerability resonate from his projection.

He grasped her hand more firmly and continued, “there’s a group of Nia-Wrozian’s attacking you. They’re trying to preserve your consciousness for themselves.”

She tried to remember her telepathic species index, but sighed in frustration as the block on her mind prevented her for delving deep enough. The Master sent her a gentle apology as he realised she couldn’t remember who she was talking about.

“The Nia-Wrozian’s collect mindscapes to trade and display,” he explained. “They’re part of a competitive hive-mind hierarchy that is led by the collector of the most powerful consciousness’s. They’re a viciously independent species who kill each other without remorse.” He frowned, “It’s unheard of for them to work together, and even so it’s taken forty-five of them to even begin breaching your consciousness. They’re not usually a threat to Time Lords.”

She tried to block the wave of grief that poured through her at the mention of the Time Lords, but knew she wasn’t successful when she felt his presence begin to withdraw as his expression shuttered.

Panicking, she reached out with her full presence and tried to grab at his own, forgetting that with so much of her mind closed off she lacked the strength and finesse to do it properly. Unable to limit her emotions, she sent everything she was feeling _– fear, pain, loss, emptiness, loneliness, don’t leave me again, please please please, love, love, love, love, PAIN, PAIN, PA—_

The Doctor screamed as her mind tried to follow his, stretching too far, too early once again, and he immediately materialised back beside her, and pulled her face into his chest. She relaxed against him, shaking as his fingers stroked though her hair, and she felt him intertwine strands of calm and healing though her mindscape.

She couldn’t even find herself to be properly embarrassed and guilty about what she knew he must have felt _–_ the fact that she was still so intensely in love with him that her hearts would ache just to think his name. The Master and her, for all the misery they put each other through, would always know each other better than anyone else throughout existence.

“Doctor,” he began. “I… do you?” he seemed lost for how to continue, and she tightened her grip around his waist and nodded her face into his chest to avoid his eyes.

He pulled her away gently, and she kept her eyes on his vest, speaking before he could continue.

“I need to get the Nia-Wrozians out of my head,” she said, and he gave a frustrated sigh before acquiescing to her change of topic.

“Already done,” he said, and she looked at him sharply, echoing confusion.

He hesitated, “They were very focused on the blocked part of your mind. I simply…burned them while their focus was elsewhere.”

She looked at him, disappointed. “You killed them,” she said flatly.

Feeling his surge of anger rise, she moved further away from him.

“Yes,” he hissed. “I killed them, because they _dared_ to touch your mind, to try and pull you apart, and you know what? It felt _good.”_

The Doctor steadied herself and met his eyes. “Okay,” she said. “I…I understand.”

The Master seemed taken aback. “You—” he cut himself off. “Okay then.”

They stared at each other for a moment.

“So why can’t I access the rest of my mind?” the Doctor asked. “If you…killed them I should be able to go back and start repairing.”

“Ah,” said the Master, reaching a hand to rub the back of his neck. “That’s what I’ve been doing: repairing the damage. It was more than expected.”

It occurred to the Doctor that she should maybe be suspicious about having her ‘best enemy’ restructuring so much of her mind, but they had shared minds before, and the Master had always been far more of a stickler for telepathic etiquette than she was.

“Thank you,” she said softly, closing her eyes and expanding her consciousness easily moving past the walls the Master was drawing back into himself.

She gently dragged the deeper parts of her consciousness across his retreating essence, and pulled her materialised presence back to the surface of her mind.

As she drifted up she heard his voice follow her. “Anything for you, love,” he projected.

The Doctor opened her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not hugely happy with this one, but I dug myself into a hole by writing a plot revolving around telepathy. I hate writing internal mindscapes, because they're so difficult to carry conversations within, it never really makes sense to me. But at least that's over and done with, and I can get back to writing things I can actually understand!


End file.
